Avantium and SCGC to bring CO2-based polymers to pilot phase

Avantium N.V., a leading technology provider in renewable chemistry, announces that it has agreed to partner with SCG Chemicals Public Company Limited (SCGC), a leading integrated chemical player in Asia and an innovator of chemical innovations and solutions. Under this partnership, Avantium and SCGC agreed to further develop CO2-based polymers and to scale-up to a pilot plant with an indicative capacity of 10 tonnes per annum. 

Avantium works on developing and commercializing innovative technologies for the production of chemicals and materials based on sustainable carbon feedstock, i.e. carbon from plants or carbon from the air (CO2).

One of its innovative technology platforms, called Volta Technology, uses electrochemistry to convert CO2 to high-value products and chemical building blocks including glycolic acid.

Avantium and SCGC partner to further develop CO2-based polymers and to scale-up to a pilot plant.

Degradable PLGA with good properties

By combining glycolic acid with lactic acid, Avantium can produce polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA), a carbon-negative polymer with valuable characteristics: it has barrier against oxygen and moisture, has good mechanical properties, is recyclable and is both home compostable and marine degradable. This makes PLGA a more sustainable and cost-effective alternative to, for example, non-degradable, fossil-based polymers.  

Since early 2023, Avantium and SCGC have been working together to further evaluate PLGA. To this end, Avantium has produced samples of different PLGAs, which have been evaluated at SCGC’s Norner AS facility.

The two parties have now agreed to take the next step in their cooperation and establish a Joint Development Agreement. Under this agreement, Avantium and SCGC intend to further evaluate PLGA in order to subsequently scale up production of glycolic acid monomer and PLGA polyester in the next two years to a pilot plant. 

“Over the past months, SCGC has assessed PLGA samples and we are impressed with the sustainability and performance characteristics of this innovative material," commented Dr. Suracha Udomsak, Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Vice President at SCGC.

“Under this partnership, we can further develop the very promising carbon-negative plastic PLGA and bring this material to the next commercialization phase,” said Tom van Aken, CEO at Avantium.